strokinit Does anyone still have questions about Chapter 19?
Does anyone still have questions about Chapter 19?
Xu Ming kicked open a box and grabbed several gold ingots from it.
Those silver ingots were officially minted by the Liang Dynasty. The inscription on the bottom was clear, and the silver was of excellent quality. Each ingot weighed fifty taels.
The golden light dazzled the eyes in the sunlight.
He casually tossed it in his hand, up and down a couple of times, as if playing with a pebble.
Then he took out several strings of pearls from the East China Sea from another box.
Each pearl is round and uniform in size, with even the smallest being as big as a longan.
Gleaming with a soft pinkish luster under the sunlight, these are clearly top-quality Hepu South Pearls, which can fetch tens of taels of silver per pearl on the market.
He casually tossed the gold ingots and pearls into an empty nanmu wood box.
"Clang—crash—"
The sounds of metal clashing and beads rolling mingled together, crisp yet jarring.
A few pearls popped out of the box, rolled onto the ground, spun around a few times, and stopped next to the boots of a member of the Imperial Guard.
The guard glanced down at it but didn't dare pick it up.
Xu Ming continued picking and choosing from the various boxes.
He picked up a piece of fine mutton-fat jade pendant, examined it against the sunlight, and then casually tossed it into his box.
Pick up a set of gold-inlaid ruby headdress, which belonged to Huang Cheng's concubine. The workmanship was exquisite, and the rubies on it were as big as fingernails.
He didn't even glance at it twice before dialing in.
Lu Zhen and the other Imperial Guards just watched, no one daring to utter a sound.
Their eyes held a complex expression.
According to regulations, these treasures must be registered and turned over to the national treasury.
But now, this madman is just messing around with it!
One of the centurions following Lu Zhen finally couldn't hold back any longer.
His name was Chen Hu, and he was Lu Zhen's confidant. He had worked in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for fifteen years.
He rose from a minor flag officer to a centurion by daring to speak out and stand up for others.
He had seen blood, killed people, and possessed an arrogance that belonged to the Imperial Guards.
He gritted his teeth, puffed out his cheeks, and mustered his courage to take a step forward.
"Young Master, what...what's wrong?"
Xu Ming didn't turn his head and continued picking through the items.
He was picking up a blood-red jade hairpin, which was entirely crimson, as if it were soaked in blood, and gleamed eerily in the sunlight.
This was part of the dowry of the principal wife, and it is said to have come from the palace of the previous dynasty. This hairpin alone is worth over a thousand taels of silver.
He tossed the hairpin into the box, his movements as casual as if he were throwing a twig.
Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask.
A look of humiliation flashed across Chen Hu's face.
He clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.
This arrogant and dissolute young master didn't even give him a second glance!
He gritted his teeth, his voice deepening and tinged with anger.
"Young Master, these are all stolen goods that must be turned over to the national treasury. According to the laws of the Great Liang Dynasty, all confiscated items must be registered and deposited into the imperial treasury. What you are doing is... is embezzlement!"
He emphasized the last two words.
It was as if they were about to exhale all the pent-up anger they had been holding in all day.
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Ming stopped picking through the items.
He was holding a jade thumb ring—a prized possession of his, said to be carved from Kunlun jade, warm in winter and cool in summer—his finger hovering in mid-air.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
A cold sweat suddenly broke out on Chen Hu's back. He didn't know why, but he felt an instinctive fear—the instinct of prey being targeted by a predator.
Xu Ming slowly turned around.
He looked at Chen Hu.
That look was like looking at a dying person.
Chen Hu's legs began to tremble.
Snapped!
A crisp slap across the face.
When Xu Ming slapped Lu Zhen before, he used real strength. But this time, he restrained himself considerably—or rather, he was too lazy to exert any force.
Even so, Chen Hu was still knocked off balance and staggered to the side, almost falling over.
Half of his face swelled up instantly, blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, and his teeth bit through the inside of his cheek, filling his mouth with the taste of rust.
Xu Ming shook his hands and moved his wrists, as if he were doing warm-up exercises.
"I told you not to ask, but you still did."
He looked at Chen Hu, his gaze moving from Chen Hu's swollen face to his eyes, which were filled with shock and fear.
"Tell me, isn't this just being a jerk?"
Chen Hu covered his face, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.
His eyes reddened, not from pain—but from humiliation. In fifteen years as a member of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he had never been slapped in public. Never.
But he dared not fight back. He didn't even dare to talk back.
He lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, his fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails dug blood into his palms.
Xu Ming looked around at the crowd.
His gaze swept across each face, and those people unconsciously lowered their heads the moment they met his eyes.
"Does anyone else have questions?"
Dead silence.
The wind blew, stirring up the dust on the ground.
A crushed petal drifted down from the sky and landed on the shoulder of a member of the Imperial Guards. He didn't dare to move.
This time, no one dared to utter a sound.
Lu Zhen lowered his head, as if he hadn't seen his trusted confidant being beaten.
His gaze was fixed on the tips of his boots, and he remained motionless, like a statue.
"very good."
Xu Ming nodded in satisfaction, seemingly enjoying this absolute authority.
He turned back around and continued his "Taobao" business.
This time he sped up, no longer carefully selecting items, but simply throwing whatever he saw that was valuable into the box.
A jade snuff bottle, tossed in.
A handscroll by a famous artist from a previous dynasty was thrown in.
A set of pure gold teaware was thrown in.
……
He pointed to the nanmu box that was already more than half full and said to Lu Zhen, "Send this to my residence."
Lu Zhen bowed and replied, "Yes."
He summoned two of his men and instructed them, "Lift it up carefully and take it to the Duke of Zhenguo's residence."
The two men exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with helplessness and anger, but in the end they said nothing, bent down, and lifted the heavy box one after the other.
Having secured the money, Xu Ming then turned his attention to the women.
He walked over to the women kneeling in the courtyard, his hands behind his back.
A chorus of voices, some young and some weeping. From teenage girls to women over forty, they knelt on the cold stone floor, some with disheveled hair, some with rumpled clothes, and some with tear-streaked faces.
When the Imperial Guards searched the area, they were driven out of their respective courtyards, some without even having time to do their hair and makeup.
At that moment, they huddled together like a flock of frightened birds, trembling with fear.
Xu Ming's gaze swept over the pale faces, as if he were selecting goods.
He looked at one person and shook his head. He looked at another and shook his head again. Some were too young, some were too old, some were plain-looking, and some cried too horribly.
Finally, his gaze settled on a woman at the very front of the crowd.
The woman was about seventeen or eighteen years old and was wearing a moon-white dress.
Even in such a wretched state, she remained kneeling upright, her chin slightly raised, her back like a drawn sword.
She didn't cry out for mercy like the others, and she didn't even shed a tear.
She just bit her lip, staring coldly ahead.